A New Guide for Police Budget Advocacy From the Community Resource Hub
How to Take Back the Budget is an introductory guide to city and county budgets released by the Community Resource Hub to help communities engaged in campaigns to #DefundPolice and invest in community needs.
The guide draws on the expertise, dedication, and momentum of grassroots groups across the country, and of Jared Knowles of Civilytics Consulting, who brings over a decade of experience with public budgets and has analyzed police budgets in partnership with organizers in over a dozen cities over the past six months.
The guide includes an overview of how to:
- find the right budget documents
- gather comparisons to put the budget in context
- analyze the overall budget
- review the budget details related to policing
- and propose alternatives and sustain wins
The guide pairs with the #DefundPolice Toolkit, released by Interrupting Criminalization, which outlines concrete steps toward divestment from policing and investment in community safety, potential roadblocks on the path to change, and along with examples of community based safety strategies, and current campaign demands.